


As Lotus Flowers

by Pixeled



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Imprinting, Ardyn makes Ravus his, Enhanced Sex, Lunafreya dies early because reasons, M/M, Non-con but not, Rape/Non-con Elements, Ravus has a childhood crush on Ardyn, Ravus has no one, Stockholm Syndrome, prisoner!Ravus, slightly AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-12 14:41:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19947838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pixeled/pseuds/Pixeled
Summary: It’s almost Ravus’s eighteenth birthday. It’s supposed to be a happy event, and he is supposed to be surrounded by the people he loves and trusts, but all that is as good as a crumpled pile of ash now.





	As Lotus Flowers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dustofwarfare](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dustofwarfare/gifts).



> For dustofwarfare, who is the Ardyn to my Ravus.
> 
> Rape/Non-con elements so beware.

It’s almost Ravus’s eighteenth birthday. It’s supposed to be a happy event, and he is supposed to be surrounded by the people he loves and trusts, but all that is as good as a crumpled pile of ash now.

He is forced to watch, helpless, as his mother is brutally murdered by a foreign man. His father had lost his life earlier that year as he fiercely attempted to staunch the flow of military invasion by the Empire.

He is locked in a cell with his sister, trying to save face and not break down and cry. He strokes her back as her body is wracked with sobs. He brushes his fingers under her eyes to try and halt the flow of her tears, but nothing will end her pain. It is the same pain he feels, but he wants to be strong for her. He whispers promises he is sure he cannot keep, but he doesn’t know what else to do. His sword was stripped from him, his pride as well.

That same foreign man who has slain his mother and made him watch is the one to bring them water, to bring them just enough food that they don’t starve. He watches them impassively. He does not speak, and neither does Ravus, but Lunafreya cries her rage and demands he give her answers, which he does not.

Days later, on the day he was supposed to celebrate his birthday, the man hauls Lunafreya from the cage and smiles at Ravus in a way that makes his stomach twist with disgust.

“I’m told it is your birthday, Lord Ravus,” the man tells him in an overly confident voice. “I’ve thought of a lovely present for you.” Ravus puts his hand through the bars, demanding the man give his sister back, the one person he has left, but the man holds her out of reach. He takes out a dagger and lets Ravus see that it gleams. He is desperate and howls in a way that would make him ashamed if he had any presence of mind to care about such things now. His sister is only one year younger than he is and they have always been very close. Lunafreya is his only friend. He has always been taken to brooding, and she is the only one who has ever seen him as anything but insufferable, so when the man sinks the dagger into her stomach and _twists_ he screams in a way he’s never done before. Lunafreya tells him she is sorry, and he thinks about how unfair this all is, how she should have never been made to suffer, how it was always supposed to be him, how the man should have killed him instead. The man deposits her back in the cell after wrenching the dagger out of her and Ravus lets tears stream from his face as he tries to staunch the bleeding. He’s not a healer like she is, like his mother was. His hands shake and they’re covered in sticky hot blood and he makes inhuman noises, and all the while the man watches with his oddly colored gold eyes, taking in Ravus’s misery and _smiling_.

Lunafreya dies in Ravus’s arms. She tries to speak, but Ravus hushes her and holds her failing body to him tightly. His white robes are stained with her blood and he feels like her blood will always be on him.

When the man leaves with his troop of Magitek soldiers, Ravus is left alone with the body of his dead sister and he wails as loudly as he wants. He doesn’t care what befalls him next. He feels broken.

It’s days later when he is forced to leave the cell. He is brought to his room in the manor and everything is different. There are Magitek soldiers there and their eyes are hollow and inhuman. He is covered in dry blood and tears streak down his dirty face. For a moment, seeing his room is like a terrible dream of normalcy. There is a note on his bed and he woodenly collects it. It smells of musk and something ancient and flowery too. Perhaps lotuses. The handwriting is beautiful and tight, scrawling confidently across the page. It bids him to bathe and dress in what is in the closet and then the Magitek soldiers will escort him to the dining room. He feels his heart clench with hate, but he does want to bathe. He wants to scrub all the blood off him, to get clean.

Ravus allows himself to break down again in the bath. He has to drain the water several times until it doesn’t come away stained with blood and dirt.

When he is done, he is exhausted, but he towels himself dry, styles his hair, and goes to the closet to see what he is supposed to wear. It is what he was supposed to have worn to his party for his birthday—an iridescent suit of white with a long white coat. He has always been partial to white, has always been drawn to it because of his coloring. His sister wore it often as well, and together, they looked like a pair of ice crystals. It torments him to think of her now, to see the light fading from her beautiful eyes again like he is reliving it. He will never hear her speak again and that wounds him.

As soon as he dresses the Magitek soldiers seem to come to life. They take him by the shoulders and press him forward. He makes his way to the dining room, their presence behind him. When he reaches the destination, he sees the man who has murdered everyone he has ever loved at the head of the table where his father had once sat.

“Ah, Ravus. How good of you to join me,” the man says as if he had any choice and waves the Magitek soldiers away. They leave the room, their metal boots clanking against the ground. Ravus looks away, the sight of the man making his blood boil. His hands shake. As much as he has scrubbed his skin and left it pink and soft, he still sees blood when he looks at them. And when he looks at that man he hears the screams of his mother echoing in his mind. “You must be wondering who I am.”

But Ravus knows who he is. He is the Imperial Chancellor.

“I know who you are,” Ravus says, barely restrained rage shaking in his voice.

“Ah, and who do you think I am?” the man smiles.

“You’re the Imperial Chancellor,” Ravus says, refusing to look at him and his strange eyes.

“What a clever boy. But do you know why I’m here? Why I’ve gone to the trouble of murdering the rest of your family?”

“I can only assume it is because of my father. What he did.”

“Mmm. That is part of it, yes,” the man says. “I want you to call me Ardyn. Now, why do you think I’ve kept you alive, when I could have slain you too?”

“I don’t know,” Ravus says miserably.

“Why, Ravus, darling, perhaps you’d like to guess?” Ardyn asks, and out of the folds of his coat he extracts the same dagger he’d used to kill Ravus’s sister. It is clean now, and polished, and it flashes in the low light. Only candles light the room on their elaborate candelabras. “Look at me when I’m speaking to you.” Ravus looks up slowly. He sees the dagger and rage blossoms in his chest. The light from the candles make Ardyn’s eyes look even more yellow and vaguely daemonic.

“You bastard,” Ravus hisses. He crosses the space between them and tries to get at Ardyn’s throat, but the man is too strong and moves lightning quick. He forces Ravus on his lap, one hand around the young man’s throat, and the other has the dagger against the junction of his neck and throat, pressing perilously close. Ravus struggles in vain and feels Ardyn’s hand wrap tighter.

“Now now,” Ardyn purrs. “That isn’t any way to treat your new master. Now, do calm down, or I will make you do so.” Slowly Ravus stops struggling and tries to leave Ardyn’s lap, but the man holds him close as one might a lover and purrs in his ear. “Did you miss that, darling? I think you did. I am your new master, and you are mine now. A conquest of the Empire.” Ravus’s blood runs cold. He has heard of this sort of thing before, that men from the Empire take lovers by force, murdering their entire families and taking them as conquests. He just never thought it would happen to him. Perhaps he has been naïve to think that his life could be happy, that he has had enough protection from the Empire. Ardyn releases him and Ravus staggers back, wishing his sword was in his hand, but that had been stripped from him, just like everything else was.

“Please do sit down. I have prepared a lovely dinner, and you must be so hungry, after eating just scraps of things.”

“Why would I want to dine with a murderer?” Ravus hisses.

“Why, because you have no choice but to do as I say. Now, I’m going to imprint on you soon, and make you officially mine, but do be a good boy until then,” Ardyn smiles. It is a cold smile, and one that promises pain should Ravus refuse. “You don’t want me to call the Magitek soldiers in to force you to sit, do you?”

Ravus sits reluctantly.

“Good boy,” Ardyn purrs.

Their usual chef walks in and sets up the food, an elaborate spread of a mix of things Tenebraen. He does not look at Ravus, his eyes refusing to meet his young master’s. But Ravus is no longer his master. That is clear. The chef has the decency to appear apologetic, but he has clearly switched allegiances to save himself.

Ravus is both hungry and not hungry. His stomach is a mess of knots and he is tense, but he has barely eaten much in a fortnight, and the smells are enticing.

“Do eat. You’ll need your strength,” Ardyn says ominously. The chef comes over to arrange a plate for Ravus of his favorites, and Ravus picks at them, eating slowly. Ardyn watches Ravus closely. He himself does not eat. He doesn’t need to, but that is neither here nor there.

When Ravus is done eating everything is swept away and he and Ardyn are alone again.

Ardyn rises from the table and goes to Ravus, holding out his hand. “Come with me,” he says. Ravus stands. He is very nearly Ardyn’s height, having grown a few inches in the past year. He doesn’t know where Ardyn is going to lead him.

They walk through the manor and Ravus is surprised to note that Ardyn is leading him to the master bedroom where his mother and father used to sleep. He is deeply uncomfortable, but Ardyn doesn’t seem to care.

“Get on the bed and strip,” Ardyn commands.

“No,” Ravus hisses. “Absolutely not.” He is horrified. All of this feels like a nightmare. A waking nightmare. But it is real.

“You don’t want to see me angry,” Ardyn says slyly.

“Just kill me. Let me die so I can join my family,” Ravus says miserably.

“No,” Ardyn laughs. “I told you. You are mine, and I am doing no such thing. You will live. At my side. Now get on the bed and strip.”

Ravus glares at Ardyn for a long moment hatefully. He has never been naked in front of another man and has certainly never done anything with anyone before, and he doesn’t want to now.

“I hope you know that what you are doing is against my will,” Ravus says.

“I’m quite aware,” Ardyn says with a smile. “Now do as I say.”

“No,” Ravus says defiantly. Ardyn comes closer and backhands him hard across the face. Ravus’s head jerks back and he cups his cheek, the sting making his eyes water with unshed tears of embarrassment.

“I gave you an order,” Ardyn says darkly. Ravus stares at him but eventually he starts to strip off his clothing piece by piece until he is mostly naked except for his pants. Ardyn tells him again to get on the bed and Ravus does so, but he turns his head so he doesn’t have to see Ardyn. When the bed dips and Ardyn moves above Ravus, he refuses to turn his head to see, but his heart is hammering in his chest. Ardyn turns his face forcefully so he has to look at him, and Ravus stares up at him with hate in his light-colored eyes. He wants to retreat into himself, to turn off his mind and let it go blank, but that is almost impossible.

Somewhere, distantly, he remembers once commenting to his sister that Ardyn is an attractive man. His sister is the only one who knew about his secret desires for men. He’d entertained fantasies once, and had even had a bit of a crush on the man, had taken a picture of him from the news clippings to bed and touched himself in the secrecy of his room. He’d even written him a letter once, and in it he babbled about peace between their nations. What a fool he was. He would have wanted this, once, but now this man wears the face of a brutal killer, and he is nothing more than a terrified boy who is about to have the rest of his innocence stolen from him.

“You are lovely,” Ardyn whispers to him.

“You don’t have to do this,” Ravus whispers back. It is fruitless, he knows, but he has to try.

“I read your letter, you know,” Ardyn says. “I met with your father. You were promised to me. You would have been mine regardless on your eighteenth birthday, but then your father went and betrayed the Empire, and I couldn’t have that. I had him killed. I waited to kill your family and take what is mine. You were always supposed to be mine.”

Ravus’s head hurts. Was Ardyn even telling the truth? And what would Ardyn want to do with him now?

“Why?” Ravus asks. His voice is small and sounds tortured.

“I always had designs on you,” Ardyn shrugs. “You were meant for greater things. But enough of that now. I know you had a fondness for me before. Perhaps you will again. I am all you have now.”

“Never,” Ravus says defiantly, but when Ardyn presses his lips to Ravus’s, Ravus feels a spark of heat go down his back. He’s never kissed anyone, and he’s never really thought he’d be kissing the Imperial Chancellor. A mix of emotions swells in his chest. He doesn’t want to want Ardyn to kiss him, especially not after all he’s done, but he finds himself wanting more and it makes his heart ache. Ardyn keeps kissing him, teasing his lips apart with the seam of his tongue, and Ravus gasps a little when he feels it enter his mouth, the sensation going straight to his cock. He isn’t supposed to want this, and he certainly doesn’t want Ardyn to know he wants it, but he is so close and smells so good. It’s the same cologne from the letter on the bed with the musk and lotuses.

“Go on,” Ardyn says. “Kiss me back. I know you’re enjoying this. You don’t want to, but your body is responding.” He trails his hand down to knead between Ravus’s legs and he outright moans in response, feeling his cock harden at the attention. Ravus doesn’t want to admit it feels good, but his body is betraying him. He doesn’t kiss back, not at first, but Ardyn keeps rubbing between his legs, and he is panting against his mouth soon. Eventually he is kissing back, as if this is his fantasy come to life and not some sick mockery of everything he holds dear.

Eventually Ardyn starts undoing Ravus’s pants. Ravus’s mind is foggy with hormones. He stops caring about his pain and focuses on the pleasure. Ardyn’s fingers wrap around his cock and it doesn’t take him long to come, and when he does, Ardyn finds some tissues, cleans him up, and tucks him back into his pants. 

“You may go back to your room. We leave for Gralea in the morning. I will imprint on you when we arrive. You will hate it, but once it’s done you will be bound to me. You will be obedient. As obedient as you can be, given I’ve murdered your family.” He says this cheerily, as if it is something he is proud of. Ravus feels ashamed and hateful. He leaves, going to bathe Ardyn’s touch off him, but the smell of his cologne stays with him. He sleeps in fits and starts, waking up screaming at the nightmares. Eventually he is too tired and sleeps the rest of the night through dreamlessly.

The trip to Gralea is long and boring mostly. Ardyn keeps his hands to himself, but he does look at Ravus from time to time with what Ravus can only describe as hunger, which is strange because he never sees the chancellor eat anything. Maybe he subsists off of killing and lust. Maybe he isn’t human at all, which is the truth, even though Ravus doesn’t really know it.

Ardyn has been alive for bordering on three millennia, but no one but the gods know. Ravus doesn’t know that he is to be an instrument to bring about Eos’s ruin, but that is just as well. He expects to be killed one day when he no longer pleases Ardyn, and maybe that is the truth. Still, it is early yet, and Ardyn has many years to toy with him still.

The imprinting process is mostly clinical. A scientist by the name of Verstael Besithia plants a chip in Ravus’s hand. When the process is done Ardyn comes to collect Ravus and leads him to his rooms. He makes him drink something that is vaguely sweet and burns going down not unlike the alcohol he’s snuck a few times at his parents’ parties. Several minutes later he feels himself grow flushed and his cock hardens. He looks at Ardyn, unasked questions clear in his eyes.

“An old concoction made from a type of flower,” Ardyn explains. “It’s given to new consorts on the day of their imprinting to seal the union. You’ll be highly sensitive and practically begging for it for days. And now that you’ve been imprinted, you are officially registered to me,” Ardyn says. “Never fear. I cleared my schedule to give you the attention you need.”

Ravus looks absolutely tortured, which is an attractive look on him. Ardyn strips him slowly, kissing him as he backs him up into his bedroom and half lays on top of him on the bed when they get there. Ravus is already panting and wanton. He tries not to, but his hips are rising up and seeking friction.

“How long will I be like this?” Ravus pants.

“At least seventy-two hours,” Ardyn says nonchalantly, divesting him of his long coat and shirt. His clever fingers find Ravus’s nipples and rub them slowly before twisting them almost cruelly. Ravus gasps and arches on the bed, whining. Everything feels so much more intense, and he is needy for Ardyn’s touch. What’s more, his mind is filled with wanting to please him, this cruel man who has taken everything from him. He wishes he felt sick with disgust, but there is only lust flowing through him.

Ardyn draws out his touches and kisses, wanting to make Ravus desperate and beg him. He teases expertly, touching and then denying Ravus. Ardyn undoes Ravus’s pants and pulls them down and off with his boots, leaving him naked and himself completely dressed. Ravus is so turned on that even the air hitting him when his cock is finally freed feels almost like a caress. Though in his mind he is begging for more, he dares not voice his desires, but Ardyn makes sure that he will break soon.

He wraps his fingers around Ravus’s cock and strokes him slowly, teasingly, meaning to draw this out. For the second time Ravus pleads with Ardyn to kill him, and it won’t be the last time, so Ardyn ignores him and shuts him up by kissing him.

Ravus is so hard and aching so much and Ardyn’s touch is so frustratingly light that he does eventually beg. It’s pretty and desperate, and Ardyn adjusts his grip and strokes him hard and fast for a little bit before he presents Ravus with two fingers against his mouth, telling him to suck them in. Ravus is too far gone to care and takes them into his mouth and sucks them, heedless to where they are going. He doesn’t know much about sex, never having bothered to learn much about it. He represses himself in every way, sex being no different. Things that feel good have always been suspicious to Ravus, and the sort of thing he’s never allowed himself to indulge in much.

When Ardyn presses those slick fingers against Ravus’s hole, Ravus protests with a little gasp of surprise, but Ardyn pushes a finger in slowly, not letting him get used to it before he seeks out his prostate, crooking said finger to bring him pleasure almost immediately with the discomfort. Before Ravus can get used to it, Ardyn is already introducing the second finger, and he starts fucking him with them both, shushing Ravus’s startled cries with deep passionate kisses. Ravus kisses back, and Ardyn shoves his tongue inside his mouth. They kiss passionately even as Ravus starts to buck against Ardyn’s fingers. He breaks the kiss to beg, crying “please” over and over. He doesn’t know what he’s begging for. Maybe the building feeling of release that’s starting up his spine.

“You’re so very attractive when you beg,” Ardyn says huskily. His cock is straining against his pants and he wants to _take_ Ravus, but all in good time. He will make Ravus come first. He will make him _utterly_ beg for his cock, to be taken. Ravus is thrashing on the bed.

“I’m going to come,” Ravus cries, and his thighs are quivering and his hair is in his face, a mess.

“Come for me,” Ardyn purrs. “But know that you are coming _because of me_ , because I am letting you, and because you want to. For me. To please me. You want me, even though you are at odds with it. You want me to _fuck_ you into this bed, to split you open on my cock and make you come over and over.” And perhaps it’s Ardyn’s voice or his words, his smell, or even what he’s doing that drives him over the edge, but Ravus comes the hardest he’s ever come in his life and he’s crying up at the ceiling and whining Ardyn’s name like it’s some sort of holy prayer he has to say over and over to _get it right_.

And that’s when Ardyn undoes his belt, pulls his pants down enough to free his cock, and slicks it up with some lube he extracts from a drawer. “I’m going to make you _scream my name_ ,” Ardyn promises as he buries himself inside Ravus’s tight gripping heat and moans tersely. Ravus thrashes and cries out sharply because it hurts but it also feels _so fucking good_. Ardyn is so big and fills him so completely that it’s all he can think about and nothing has ever been so right in all his life. The gods and their prayers, the healing magick he’s witnessed his mother and sister perform, none of it holds a god damn candle to the intensity and feeling of _right_ he feels as Ardyn fills him up to the brim with his molten hot cock.

“Want it!” Ravus cries, and he’s unabashed and needy in this moment like he’s never been. “Ardyn!” He chants his name over and over and his fingers scramble at his back and he’s pulling him closer with his feet and he’s so very close again. Ardyn laughs.

“Tell me how much you want my cock,” Ardyn huskily demands.

“I need it!” Ravus cries, and he’s arching on the bed and doesn’t care how desperate he sounds. “Give it to me!”

“Do you now?” Ardyn smirks and he’s breathless and caught up in this moment too. Ravus is working him up and it’s been centuries since he’s let himself get carried away with something like this. He didn’t expect to be moved so much. But Ravus is so pretty when he’s desperate and it’s not his first time with a Nox Fleuret. Many many years ago he was in love with one, had meant to marry her, and they had even picked out names for their future children. But that was a long time ago. Even now, he feels himself drawn to Ravus by destiny. Ravus is doomed to die, but Ardyn might end up having some affection for him before all that is set in motion. Ardyn will never allow himself to love again, not after he was forced to watch Aera die, but he might allow himself to be charmed by Ravus, somewhat. He is such a tragic figure, and Ardyn has a soft spot for those, being one himself. But enough of this. He was allowing himself to become distracted when there was still a lot of work to be done.

Ardyn starts stroking Ravus in time to his hard thrusts and Ravus begs to be allowed to come. It pleases Ardyn that he asks, and he calls him a good boy and tells him to come on his cock like a good boy should. His voice is breathy and Ravus’s eyes roll back into his head at the sound of it, and he comes again, his whole body going rigid. Ardyn pounds inside him and holds him there, against his cock which is buried fully inside him, and comes in hot spurts which makes Ravus jerk and sob out. Ardyn can feel the Scourge rising and asking to be let out and _consume_ , but Ardyn doesn’t let it, burying his face in Ravus’s shoulder to get himself under control. When he’s sure the Scourge is not present in his features he lifts his face and kisses Ravus hotly. He’s so pleased with him, and he knows that despite what he did to Ravus’s family, he’s got him in the palm of his hand. He will depend on him. He will do whatever he says. He will kill for him.

They have sex off and on for the duration of the drink’s effects, but Ravus finally drifts off to sleep after it wears off. Ardyn makes sure he’s eaten and drank enough water. When Ravus wakes up, Ardyn is still there and he’s smiling. Ravus looks at him like he’s the only man in the world. And perhaps he is, to him.

He asks Ravus to join the military. He has some skill with a blade. He fights for the Empire despite what the Empire did to his family. He fights for Ardyn. In a way, he’s like one of the Magitek soldiers. He doesn’t question orders. Ardyn grows very fond of him.

Ravus tells him one day when they’re out in a field and it’s been months since they’ve seen each other that he loves Ardyn. It’s very quiet and only the cicadas sing. Ardyn smiles, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. He knows that one day he will let the Scourge devour him and he will die on the chosen king’s blade. He is not looking forward to that day, but he knows it will come.

And when that day does finally come, years later, Ardyn thinks he is prepared for it, but he is not.

He thinks of how he used to be, kind and loving, and saw a bit of his former self at times when he was with Ravus, easing his suffering. He thought he would enjoy turning Ravus into a daemon. He thought he might revel in forcing him to die on Noctis’s blade. But he only feels hollow.

When he dies eventually, it’s not Aera he thinks of, or Somnus, his rage at the gods, or the fact that Noctis will die too, and that surprises him. What he thinks of when he’s sinking into oblivion is Ravus. Ravus’s silent devotion. Ravus’s eyes as the Scourge consumed him. The love that he bore even in that moment.

As lotus flowers, Ardyn’s love unfurled out of dirt, grime, and pain.


End file.
